My current class on Melody is really bringing it up. I have a hard time with feeling stupid, with allowing myself to learn new things. It's particularly hard when I have a dichotomy of my brain understanding the underlying theory behind something, and my hands just plain not having the built in or trained ability to make it happen. It's scary and frustrating because I don't know how much practice it would take to get to that mind/body fluency, if I would ever even get there, and if I DO have the capacity, what would be the fastest way to get there. So I end up avoiding it altogether, doing stupid things that give me a false and fast sense of accomplishment like dopey games on Facebook - "I made it to level 24!" and such. The Melody class makes me feel stupid. Makes me think things like, "Well, maybe I should just be a lyricist..."
This is a deep, deep pattern, procrastinating to the point of not having much time to finish a project, so that I have a "good excuse" if it ends up not being very good - "of course it's not, I didn't spend much time on it!"
I have wild vacillating moments of thoughts that seem normal at one second and then seem wildly audacious the next - I saw a site for a songwriting contest and started pondering if I should enter - it's $35 per song, which is not that much and yet kind of a lot of money. It's definitely a barrier to make sure people are sure of themselves to a point that means a certain level of quality for the most part. So I was really thinking about it like it was no big deal, just try it without any expectations sort of thing, and then I started seeing some of the names of people who had entered and won or even just been finalists in the past, people I really admire and think are great songwriters. And then I quickly spiraled down into comparison land again - "Who am I to even try to put myself up next to those people?!"
But tiny things give me hope - working on a song with someone I trust, who will tell me when things aren't working, and then her saying for one of them "This is really pretty." Getting asked to record a little, and comparing that recording to a big name and thinking it actually sounds pretty good, sound quality-wise anyway. (There's another one of those things where I do something that seems normal at first and then suddenly audacious). A nice comment on a YouTube video. Online musician friends taking my requests for advice seriously and giving me real feedback. Last year a pop singer visiting from LA, who has been signed to a big label years back, telling me that she really LIKED my melodies. Twice. And that was stuff I wrote years before this class! I don't know what it will/would take for me to feel like I have permission to be here, to do this.
I talked to G and he said he didn't think I should give up so easily on songwriting. That maybe I needed to take more classes, spend more hours on the work. That frustrated me because we looked at the financials months back, when I was deciding to do the whole certificate program, and there just wasn't any way that I could just take classes (like maybe 2 at a time) and not be bringing at least a minimum amount of money in to cover bills. I feel like I've really minimized my expenses and I don't really see any areas where I could cut back further. I've gotten even more creative in trying to figure out trades/volunteering/working for certain things that I want/need to have/do.
G was maybe also implying that I just need to be patient and take more time, however much I need, but I feel so much pressure to do/be/have/get started "for real" NOW NOW NOW. Because I know we want a family both family and career are things that everyone says are best started young and I'm not getting younger!
If I just wanted to write songs for me to hear, well, I do that already. The problem/challenge is I want to be successful. I don't know if there's anyone in the world who knows how to do that, really, not with a formula. Well, there are formulas for pop stars maybe, but even then, why does one person or group catch on with "the public" more than the other, when all other things seem to be equal?
And then I think and wonder - do I really want to be even partially famous? How famous does one have to be to be sustainable? Whatever that is, could I handle it?? Not that I think that would really even probably be a problem for quite a while, or really that it's one I'd be lucky to have. And I read the blogs of the independent artists I admire who are working their asses off and the are struggling to stay afloat and people are watching the TV's in the bars instead of them, and I see the shows here in town where the cafe which is small already feels empty and I'm trying to discretely count how many people are there and figure out the worst possible scenario for how much they need to spend on gas and will they make it to the next town but thank goodness they have a free place to stay tonight at least and why on earth would I want to put myself through that, huh?
Well, the reason why is because of the friggin amazing moments I have listening to those indie heros and heroines - transporting, heart opening/healing, soul connection, deep understanding, uplifting, belly laughing, epiphany moments. I can't receive those moments and NOT be inspired to attempt to reciprocate, not necessarily with them, but with the cosmic energy - I get such a charge I feel like I need to give back however I can. And somehow some part of me thinks/feels I need to do it in song form, rather than any other myriad ways that one could give back. The blogging about musicians and the radio show helps a little, but it's really not enough. I need to do it myself. Writing songs is what watching the performances inspires me to do, not paint or write novels or whatever, writing a song.
The other thing that frustrates me about a lot of the classes I take is they seem to want to teach me about the blues. I like the blues live, and for dancing. But I don't sit down and pick out a blues album to listen to when I want to listen to music. It's not the kind of music I want to write (at this point in my life at least! Don't want to be definitive when who knows who/how I will be in the future). I know that there will be principles in blues music that will apply to any kind of music, but it feels like a roundabout way to get to what I want. I actually like a lot of what I write, at the time I write it at least, but I don't have the perspective to know if it's any good in the eyes of the general opinion. I know there will always be people on the full range of the fence, but there really is a general consensus on a lot of things.
I really need someone I can talk to about this, maybe several someones, but people who can both tell me the truth about where I stand at the moment, and what my chances are, without crushing my soul or making me feel dumb for even considering it. I know my beautiful, wonderful, amazing friends and family can give me all sorts of encouragement, but it's very very sad to say, I don't generally trust them to give me the more objective feedback I need. It's good, because I also DO need a group of people to love and support me unconditionally, I need that very much! But I think I'm ready for that other level of feedback from a different group of people, that pushes me forward...
Late night freak out ramblings....
3 comments:
*hugs*
hi dear,
just a few thoughts coming to mind...
first of all, it seems like maybe you're giving a bit too much weight to the concept of innate talent, a dubious myth that i think is oversold in this culture. like, if you are born with a certain special something, you will be automatically good and successful without having to try too hard, and if you don't, you won't get there no matter how much work you do. (i do think there's such a thing as having a "genius" in a certain area, but i think that's very rare, and i'm talking even among those who are considered successful.) most of what passes for "talent", i believe, is really just a matter of applied consciousness. if you have the awareness and artistic sensibility to recognize something "good", then you have the capability to learn how to reproduce that effect. there will be certain aspects to the task that come easier and certain ones that come harder depending on what experiences you've been exposed to and what you've learned, but all of it can be learned. the people you admire may have had opportunities to figure some stuff out a little earlier than you, but that's all.
think of it like learning a language. everyone has the ability to speak languages, as we know, because we all do, but the ones we happen to speak and the way we speak them have to do with the environment we've grown up in...we hear it and then we speak it back. and the more kinds of language you are exposed to, or the more in depth you explore it (through writing/reading or whatever), the more possibilities open up for understanding and expressing through it. creative tasks are like that. you know you have an "ear" for the language of music, and for the language of lyrics, so there's no reason you can't make it go both ways. you start with what you know, and then as you get more immersed in it the language you speak will become more complex and capable of more nuance.
so while you could get someone to point out to you where you might be ahead and where you might be behind, you shouldn't think of that as an indicator of your overall potential, or that you should only do the part of it that comes easier and the rest is beyond you. everyone starts out with certain advantages and certain challenges. and, in my experience, if something is part of your passion or dharma, then it will inevitably involve both an aspect that comes more naturally and another aspect that is a particular deep challenge for you. it's good to know that ahead of time so that when that issue raises its head, you can take it not as a message from the gods that you shouldn't be doing that thing, but on the contrary: that you have reached a point with that practice where it has touched into your deep soul work. since deep soul work can't be successfully avoided anyway, you might as well go in with eyes open and get down to work.
(to be cont.)
(cont.)
finally, i think you should feel appreciative of yourself for two things.
one: that you have such wonderful experiences on the receiving end of music. that in itself is an under-recognized art which many people don't experience. and seriously, if it wasn't for listeners like you, a lot of this art might not come into being, because i believe that the artistic process is partly dependent on a collective consciousness that is capable of receiving what comes through.
second: that you know what you want to do. because really, the debate stops there. you can have all kinds of feelings and fears come up in the process, and you will. you can worry about elements you have less control over, such as timing or whether you will be successful. none of it is relevant to the process of doing what you love if you know the process of doing it is what fulfills you. and you deserve to be fulfilled, no matter how long it takes to get where you want or whether or not it pays off commercially. it's okay to want success, let's just not confuse that ambition with the artistic one, which doesn't depend on others to be achieved. after all, the main part of the success game which you have control over is the simple and unglamorous principle that if you apply enough of your consciousness to something you will get good at it, and if you get good enough, someone will notice. then there's a small part which is about marketing and strategizing which you can learn, but which is separate from the artistic process.
whenever you get serious about something, all kinds of voices of doubt and self-protection are going to come up that will try to anticipate what inner or outer obstacles might stop you. the simple truth is that all of those obstacles may indeed come up, but none of them have to stop you. once you realize that, you can decide how much energy you have to spare worrying about them, which could be going towards working on what inspires you. (;
love, karuna
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